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<A HREF="contents.html"><IMG TITLE="Programming in Lua (first edition)" SRC="capa.jpg" ALT="" ALIGN="left"></A>This first edition was written for Lua 5.0. While still largely relevant for later versions, there are some differences.<BR>The third edition targets Lua 5.2 and is available at <A HREF="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/859037985X/theprogrammil3-20">Amazon</A> and other bookstores.<BR>By buying the book, you also help to <A HREF="../donations.html">support the Lua project</A>.
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<td width="80%" align="center"><a href="contents.html#P3">Part III. The Standard Libraries</a>
&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;
<a href="contents.html#21">Chapter 21. The I/O Library</a></td>
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<h1>21 &ndash; The I/O Library</h1>

<p>The I/O library offers two different
models for file manipulation.
The simple model assumes a <em>current</em> input
and a <em>current</em> output files,
and its I/O operations operate on those files.
The complete model uses explicit file handles
and it adopts an object-oriented style that defines all operations
as methods on file handles.

<p>The simple model is convenient for simple things;
we have been using it all along the book until now.
But it is not enough for more advanced file manipulation,
such as reading from several files simultaneously.
For those manipulations,
the complete model is more convenient.

<p>The I/O library puts all its functions into the <code>io</code> table.

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  Copyright &copy; 2003&ndash;2004 Roberto Ierusalimschy.  All rights reserved.
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